Student raped and murdered

BALIK PULAU: It was a murder most brutal. With only a week shy of her SPM examination, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped and then had her throat slit by a school security guard believed to be her boyfriend.

Intan Suraya Mawardi was found semi-nude in a pool of blood on her bed at a flat in Bandar Baru Teluk Kumbar near here. Police have arrested a 20-year-old in connection with the murder.

The girl’s body was discovered by her father, a 36-year-old customer service officer at the Penang International Airport, when he returned home from work at 6.30pm.

It is believed that the suspect raped and murdered the girl at about 6pm yesterday, then went back home to change before clocking in at the school in Bayan Lepas where he worked.

Sources said he also hid two knives, believed to be the murder weapons, wrapped in a white bloodied tudung in the school compound. The suspect also hid the girl’s smartphone between some decorative plants inside the school compound.

Sources said the man even went back to the crime scene at around 8pm and cried so hard that he had to be consoled by onlookers and residents. Minutes later, he was arrested.

After being questioned for five hours, he led police to the school where the knives and Intan Suraya’s smartphone were recovered.

Police also went to his house in Permatang Damar Laut where the clothes he wore during the rape-murder were found. The suspect is an addict and was arrested two months ago for a drug offence.

Balik Pulau deputy OCPD Deputy Supt Nor Salawati Saad, who was at the scene with Penang Hospital senior consultant forensic pathologist Datuk Dr Bhupinder Singh, said there were signs of a struggle in the girl’s room, adding that there was damage to the wardrobe and a table fan.

“We believe that the suspect was jealous that the girl had many close male friends. He has been remanded by a magistrate’s court pending investigations,” said Penang CID chief Senior Asst Comm Datuk Zakaria Ahmad.

Intan Suraya was laid to rest at 6pm in the cemetery of Masjid Ridwaniah Sungai Batu in Teluk Kumbar. It was a sombre atmosphere as her friends and teachers came to pay their last respects.

Classmate Muhd Nabil Ikhwan, 17, who was shocked by the murder, said Intan Suraya was a pleasant and quiet girl. Asked about the suspect, Muhd Nabil said he was a former student of the school but Intan had met him through a phone chat app.

A relative who declined to be named said the suspect had been harassing Intan Suraya for some time. The parents had even told him off because Intan Suraya was preparing for her SPM examination soon, but to no avail.

BALIK PULAU: It was a murder most brutal. With only a week shy of her SPM examination, a 17-year-old girl was allegedly raped and then had her throat slit by a school security guard believed to be her boyfriend.
Intan Suraya Mawardi was found semi-nude in a pool of blood...